The Texas senator who spoke for 11 hours to block a plan to restrict access to
abortion was accused by the state's governor on Thursday of failing to "learn
from her own example" as a teenage mother.

Mr Perry, right, said that Ms Davis should appreciate his argument because she gave birth to her first child at 19Photo: AP

By Jon Swaine, New York

6:13PM BST 27 Jun 2013

Wendy Davis was hailed as a feminist hero on Tuesday for mounting a "filibuster" against a Republican bill that women's rights campaigners say would close almost all abortion clinics in America's second-most populous state.

Ms Davis, 50, ran down the clock on the final day of the Texas legislature's session, meaning that the bill's backers could not force it through before midnight passed.

However she conceded on Thursday that the plan was likely to succeed anyway after Rick Perry, the Texas governor and former Republican presidential hopeful, called a special session on Monday to pass the bill, which also bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

"Who are we to say that children born into the worst of circumstances can't grow to live successful lives?" Mr Perry said in a speech to an anti-abortion group.

In extraordinarily personal remarks, Mr Perry went on to say that Ms Davis should appreciate his argument because she gave birth to her first child when she was 19.

"She was a teenage mother herself. She managed to eventually graduate from Harvard Law School and serve in the Texas senate," he said.

"It is just unfortunate that she hasn't learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realise its full potential and that every life matters."

Responding to the governor's remarks about her personal life, Ms Davis said on Thursday night: "Rick Perry's statement is without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds."

Ms Davis was married when she had her daughter, Amber, in 1981, but separated from her husband soon after. She later had another child and remarried.

On Thursday she accused Mr Perry of having a "continued interest in intruding in the privacy of women and their decision-making."

"It's big government intruding in private lives in Texas and Texas values don't cotton to that very well," she told CBS News. "I'm seeing an uproar against it from all sides of the political spectrum".